[laughter] 53 autumns ago in the 1960 general election for president, john kennedy said this: if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their school, their jobs, their civil rights and civil liberties -- someone who believes we can breakthrough the stalemate and suspicion that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by liberal, then i'm proud to say i'm a liberal. as andrew and stephen write in their introduction to their father's letters, arthur schlessinger jr. helped kennedy craft those words. the letters, which are a marvelous book, chronicles the late historian's views really from world war for through the -- world war ii through the second iraq war. you can read letters from adelaide stevenson, john kennedy, robert kennedy, henry kissinger, william f. buckley jr., al gore, gore vidal, jacqueline kennedy and naturally -- given arthur's interest in american history -- groucho marx, sammy davis jr. and bi